Recharging Batteries : Busy Bee

Busy Bees

This week I did something really unusual for me. I sat down! I wandered around my gorgeous garden to admire beautiful flowers for inspiration and passed a garden lounger that has hardly been used. I laughed at the memory of my begging my husband to buy me the comfortable sunbed. I had been filled with visions of relaxing on it in my garden but that time has never come. Like most gardeners its' impossible to not see weeds that need pulling out or plants that need dead heading or cutting back. And as an artist I constantly see things that I want to paint. 

On top of that I always have so much to do.

But this week the sunshine has been incredible and I couldn't ignore that sun lounger. I decided to sit still for half an hour which happily turned into an hour. All the time I was lying there, I was thinking about how much needed to be done. I mentally listed the work left to be covered in my new book, I thought of the list of emails with fabulous invitations for future USA tours in 2016/2017. I could  have been working on my new exhibition .  

But instead I did something very rare.

I sat still and recharged my batteries. 

And listened to bees!

It made a change to watch a tiny nsect working really hard and they reminded me of myself. I have been  so busy leaping from one project to the next , sharing my passion for watercolour, but somewhere along the line I had forgotten to take genuine time out to simply chill. 

And it was worth it.

I now feel energised and eager to face the week ahead. In fact,I  have just sent off the introduction to the next section of my new book to my publisher which I hope they love as much as I do.

Of course the bees had an influence as they appeared in my next painting. In glorious glowing yellow.

Artists Tip For the Day?

Take time out from painting to recharge your batteries. And enjoy it!

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Rose and Bee in Watercolour

Sweet Scent

 Rose and Bee in Watercolour

I have spent the most amazing day again painting in my garden. I started this morning with an appointment at the hospital to see the physiotherapist and they are really impressed with my progress. I see the specialist on Thursday and I am hoping he will be telling me good news on when I can walk unaided and minus the huge hospital boot I wear to protect my broken ankle.  I followed my appointment by delivering paintings to The Frame Gallery in Hampshire currently hosting  my latest solo exhibition. Within an hour of delivery I heard one of the new paintings I  had taken in had sold, a favourite of mine. As it was a floral piece I was thrilled to hear the news and delighted to be working on new flower paintings for a series.

I seem to be addicted to painting bees at the moment. They are in every single painting I create. This afternoon they settled on a very early rose in my garden. My mind was distracted  from the rose painting I was working on and I soon gave most of my focus to the small bees instead. So much so a piece of paper by my side soon became covered in bee studies.

Bees!

 It truly is amazing what captures an artists eye and becomes a fixation for painting as a subject. I imagine I may be painting spiders next! Whatever you are doing, enjoy it. Life is far too short to be miserable, worried or serious all the time. Try not to be too bee-sy!

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I am thrilled my "How to Paint Roses in a Loose Style" step by step is still being enjoyed on my blog. Summer is approaching so its a great time to get busy painting them again.

Happy Painting!

Bumble Bee and Lupin

 Lupin Flower with Bumble Bee

Yesterday was such a fantastic day in my garden. I enjoyed painting so many flowers during the day. Sadly both time and sunshine ran out before I managed to paint the pink lupins that are towering over the other plants in one perrenial border. Today as soon as I could I headed towards the pink columns of flowers and settled to work. I calmly listened to sweet birdsong and the humming of many working bees, several of which had decided they liked the pink flowers I was painting as much as I did.

It soon became clear to me that painting the flower and the bee would be far more interesting as a composition. So in this piece, above, you can just see the hint of the little buzzy bee hovering above the flower. Nature  had attracted the bee by the vibrant colour of the flower. My watercolour attracted several bees too which is why I stopped at this stage. Maybe the biggest compliment on any floral art is when you fool an insect into believing they have landed on a real plant when in fact it is just a painting.

I hope to paint more gorgeous flowers in my garden this afternoon to make the most of this stunning English Summer weather.

Artist Tip of the Day : Allow nature to guide your  compositions. Learn from life as much as possible and save working from photography for days when its  raining or too cold to go outside.

Lupins and Bee on my easel, almost complete.